Combination placer machine



Dec. 11, 1923.

c. R. GILBERT COMBINATION PLACER MACHINE Filed March 4, 1920 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 4, 1920 c R GILBERT COMBINATION PLACER MACHINE Dec. 11 1923.

Dec. 11, 1923. 1,477,053

' c. R. GILBERT COMBINATION PLACER MACHINE Filed March 4, 1920 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 /52 3/ I ll J 2 22 /6 2 CHARLES- fF. G/L RF/Pr Dec. 11, 1923. 1,477,053

c. R. GILBERT COMBiNATION PLACER MACHINE Filed March 4, 1920\ 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Dec. 11, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES R. GILBERT, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF 1 WILLIAM J. GO'IH, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA COMBINATION PLACER MACHINE.

Application filed March 4, 1920. Serial No. 363,126.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES R. GILBERT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Combination Placer Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to concentrating apparatus and has for its object to provide an improved form of apparatus for eifi ciently operating to separate the values from the gangue and waste material, and the invention consists of the construction, the combination and arrangements of the parts, an embodiment of which invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described and claimed herein.

Placer deposits as generally of the common occurrent form may be said to consist of waste placers, moist placers and dry deposits, and it is one of the important objects of the present invention to provide an apparatus in which the material coming from the deposits of these various kinds can be thoroughly agitated and all of the larger bodies such as gravels, rocks, lumps of conglomerate including, for instance, clay and sand mixtures and masses of clayey matter can be thoroughly washed while being agitated so as to secure the disintegration of the conglomerate and soluble masses and so that the fine particles lodged in the crevices of gravel rock and other hard formations can be thoroughly cleaned out.

It is well known that the values will adhere tenaciously to the surface of their oarriers andwill lodge compactly in the crevices, and unless thoroughly agitated and washed the values are lost with the gangue, and the present machine is constructed and arranged to secure the above effective treatment of the material to be handled.

Figure 1 is a plan view ofa preferred form of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of the pump side of the machine. 7

Fig. 8 is an end elevation of the machine looking toward the head end.

Fig 4; is a vertical longitudinal section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a perspective of a fragment of the tumbling barrel.

The apparatus consists of a substantial frame structure having a series of side posts 2 that are spaced and trussed in transverse frames including yielding cross members 3. A suitable number of frames are employed and with each frame spaced longitudinally from the other and longitudinally secured by beams 4 which are shown as inclining slightly from the head end of the machine which has its end posts 2 extended somewhat higher than the remaining part, and the whole is diagonally braced as at 5 The diagonal braces extend rearwardly and are provided with plates 6 forming a suitable support for the superstructuire which includes an elevator housing 7 inclining downwardly and forwardly to a footbox 8. q The material to be treated is charged into the box at the inlet 9 thereof and is carried upwardly by a suitable endless traveling elevator or conveyor .10 operative about sprockets 11 on a shaft 12 in the foot box 8.

The upper end of the conveyor operates over a sprocket or sprockets 13 on a shaft 14 in the head of the box 7 which is provided with a delivery or feed-chute 15. This chute or trough discharges into a rotary barrel l6 suitably mounted as by a carrier structure 17 on a shaft 18 extending obliquely at a suitable angle with respect to the top of the apparatus, the upper end of the shaft 18 having a gear 19 meshing with a complementary gear 20 on the head shaft 21 which is mounted in suitable bearings 22 onthe frame trolled by a suitably operated gate or valve 27. Extending into the rotary washing barrel 16 is a discharge trough or chute 28 into Which the oversize material collecting in the rotating washincr barrel 16 willbe discharged and from this chute 28 the overso that any small material collecting in the lower corner can pass from the barrel 16 into the tub 25. The flange 16 can be secured to or providedon the barrel 16 in any desired manner ,-as for instance, by angle brackets 16 which will further serve as tumbling or agitating devices for the material accumulating in the barrel 16.

From the head shaft 21 which is provided with a main pulley 31 there extends a sprocket drive mechanism 32 to the shaft 14 for driving the elevator, *andthere is extended downwardly from the head shaft 21 a sprocket chain mechanism 33 'including'a lower sprocket wheel secured ona shaft 35 which istransversely mounted across the head or front posts 2,=a-nd on'the inner end of this shaft'35 there is secured a disc 36 provided with aseries of wrist. pin apertures 36,"these being disposed in different radial distances froin'the centercf the shaft, and

into any of these apertures may be inserted a wrist or crank pin'37 having-a threaded portion to be passed 'through the respective aperture36 and a nut 38 may be plac'edon the-opposite end to' secure the wrist pin in mounted position.

To the Wrist pin-37'thereis conncrted'a link 39 which in turn isconnected at its opposite end at 40 to the adjacent cross piece of the grizzly rack or screen frame'3tl' which latter issupported onsets of rollers '41 which are clearlyshownih Fig. 3 as arranged-on axes 42 transverse to the frame or rack 30. The axles or shafts l2 of the wheels 41 are shown as mounted in bearings in the form of yokes 43 having threaded stems 44 adjustable through bracket bean ings 45'on opposite sides of which may be clamped set nuts46. By this means the roller bearings 42 can be vertically adjusted so as to precisely determine the pitch or angle at which may be desired to run the reciprocating tray or track 30. The bottom of the rack is provided with guide members or rails 41 to run in the groovesof the rollers 41.

The rack 30 has at its forward end a coarse or grizzly screen 47 through which a portion of the material being treated can pass downwardly, the oversize portion pas"- ing rear-wardly and encountering ritiles 48, the upper surfaces of which form stops against which the heavier material and values will collect while the gangue or waste portion will pass downwardly toward the lower and tail end of the rack 30 and discharge therefrom to be conveyed away as maybe desired.

The discharge outlet 26 of the tub or tank 25 is disposed above the upper end of the grizzly rack 30 and all of the material coming therefrom is designed to be directed 7 through the grizzly asshown by the diagonal guide ribs 47 arranged just in front of the grizzly 47. The bottom of the rack 30 is provided below the grizzly with a forwardly and downwardly inclined discharge The frame 51 is provided with a set of concentrating'cleats'or riffles 57 at its front end, and just below these is, a screen 58 for subdividing the material being handled, the smaller material passing through the screen 58 on to a discharge pan 59and the oversize material on the screen 58 running down toward and past riflles'60 against which the values will concentrate while the gangue passes to the tail end and is discharged.

The screen frame 51 is adjustably mounted on supporting rollers 61 similar to the rollers 41. and having similar adjusting IIIGZUIS.

From the discharge pan 59 the concentrate part of the material is discharged on to an 'amalgamating tray 62 having at its front end a link 63 connected to a-crank pin 64 adjustable in a disc 65 on a shaft; 66. This shaft is driven by a sprocket device 67 con.

nected to the shaft 5 v On the amalgamating tray or frame '62 is providedan amalgamating plate 70 below which is arranged a flight of riffles 71 below the last of which the tailings or waste ma-v terial is finally discharged to be-conveyed away. The frame 62 reciprocates on bearing rollers 72 having adjustable supports 7 3 similar to those above described.

One of the features of the present inven tion resides in the continuous washing of'.

the material being handled by,.'passing it into thebarrel 16 which isoperative in" a tank or tub'of water, this water beingrepeatedly utilized by circulation, as for in stance, through the operation of a suitable pump '7 5 having a shaft 7 6 driven, by a belt 77 extendingupwardly to a larger pulley wheel 7 8 secured on the shaft 21. The pump has an intake'pipe 79 leading'to asump into which the water used in theapparatus isv collected and returned, andthe water-isdis charged by the pump into a pipe 80 eXtendto and discharging into the ing upwardly tank or tub 27.

From the above 'it' will be seen that the machine incorporates mechanism for continuously feedingthe material to be conoenw trated into a rotary washing barrel which operates in a bath of Water so that all of I toremove the values from their crevices Y and surface thereof and also to dissolve accretions of sand and clay'and clay lumps to which the valuable particles tenaciously adhere. In addition to thus agitatin and washing the waste and gangue materia the under size material passing through the bucket is again re-treated to facilitate the separation of the values from the intermediate size bodies. This step is again repeated any number of times as may be de sired until finally the concentrate portion is discharged on to an amalgamating means in the recovery of the gold particles by amalgamation.

Various changes may 'be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. In a concentrating apparatus, a tank having a valved outlet, an open ended drum arranged for rotation in said tank, an inwardly projecting flange carried by one end of said drum and spaced apart therefrom to form a narrow opening to permit the dishaving a valved outlet, an inclined drum arranged for rotationin the upper portion of said tank, brackets arranged on the inner face of said drum at its lower end, a ring plate secured to said brackets and spaced apart from the adjacent edge of the drum,-

material delivering means extending into the upper end of the drum, and a discharge spout leading from the interior of the drum through the end thereof that is provided with the ring plate.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this s ecification.

C ARLES R. GILBERT. 

